China (Rise of the Moderns)/Tech Tree
China have the Power of Culture. Game Info National bonuses Starting government: Monarchy *Scholars, citizens, merchants and caravans created instantly. *Science research at the Library 20% cheaper. *Receive Herbal Lore line of research for free at the granary. *Start with a Large City. New cities you found become Large Cities. Unique units * horse archer 2 => Palace Gamekeeper 3 weaker than a dragoon, but has a combat bonus against buildings. Upgradeable to a Beiyang carabineer in 5 with Foreign Concessions * Manchu booi cavalry 1 equal to a cuirassier, but with no ramp cost. * 5 Dadao cavalry - basically a light cavalryman armed with a large sword. He wears a Stahlhelm. No ramp cost * Manchu musketeer 1-? Strong as European musketeer, but cannot be upgraded. Can be upgraded to Beiyang rifle regiments with Foreign Concessions * Chinese archers upgrades in [4 to Beiyang conscripts with Foreign Concessions] *Beiyang guard division 5 assault infantry, available with Foreign Concessions. Auxiliaries Unique buildings *Mansion - trains elite units *Temple - performs taxation and religion research, and is the main stopping point for your auxiliary units. *Palace Complex (available from 1) **Hosts 2 sets of exclusive technologies, unique to non-Western nations. **Produces a small trickle of wood. **Units created: ***Tiger Men - extremely cheap but expendable and fast on foot, only good against cavalry. ***Angry mob - a bunch of Chinese peasants, armed with melee weapons (spear, dadao, glaive). These units can be amassed in massive numbers and put the "human" in "human wave tactics" Spoiler Where Korea espouses a balanced force and Japan a dependence on infantry, China's units revolve around one single component: cavalry. With cavalry units that more than equal those of the West in the Mercantile Era, the Chinese army on the charge is truly a terrifying prospect to deal with: with diminished or eliminated ramp cots on many units in the Colonial Era, which are still as strong as those in the Mercantile Era, China has the ability to out-produce and out-punch any faction in the game. Historically the Manchu laid great store in their cavalry and so the Manchu booi has stats similar to a cuirassier, but is available from the Colonial Era first. Yet, like most Asian factions, China has an incomplete but flexible tech tree: additional units cannot be created without sacrificing future development of modern infantry. China has one problem, and that is spear units cannot be created - all China has at its barracks are the Chinese archers and the Manchu musketeers. The flexibility in the tech tree however ir provided by two technologies: Divine Mandate, and Foreign Concessions. The former allows for some terrifyingly cheap units from your Nobles' Palace: Yihetuan infantry are weak but sufficiently cheap enough to be hard-hitters with their long polearms, while the Tiger Men are fast-moving sword infantry who while they are poor against all other units, have a propensity in killing cavalry. If this is not palatable, however, China can then rely on the modern-era upgrades of its units: the Beiyang line. this consists of marines; line infantry; and carabineers, but only appears in the Industrial Era. These units weak, but much better than the Divine Mandate units and can be expected to give the enemy some pause if recruited in large numbers. On the basis of economics, China has one special ability and that is the ability to instantaneously create villagers, merchants, traders and scholars. Although you will be wont to spam these in number, the actual way to using this power is to micro-manage the process. Usually, when people build new economic constructions that need to be staffed like mines and universities, they will either have too few or too many civilian units. A China player will be able to fine-tune their population to obtain the right number of villagers to buildings. Also, free villagers can be created into militia, although using militia as your primary attack force can be extremely punishing on you if it fails. History By far the second-largest contiguous land empire of the early modern era (after the Russian Empire), China often played a massive role in East Asian politics by acting as the "big brother" to other Asian nations. The smaller Asian nations would often pay tribute to China and in exchange, the Celestial Court would guarantee their independence from interference from other nations. The Ming Dynasty: Light in the Dark Age In 1368, as Buddhist monk named by Zhu Yuanzhang, previously having stylised himself Prince of Wu, took Khanbaliq (now called Beijing), ending almost two centuries of Mongol rule in China and established the Ming Dynasty, taking on the title of Emperor Hongwu. Although the Ming represented another era of heightened cultural sensitivity and prosperity for the Chinese, the new dynasty would be renowned outside of China for creating the greatest navy of its day, sailing as far as distant Africa in the 15th century. As a result of the expense of the expeditions as well as from rival factions within the government which saw more importance in defending China from constant harassment from Northern barbarians and foreign influence (in particular, the Portuguese and the Dutch), the voyages however were suddenly stopped, and the Navy destroyed after 1433. This saw China eventually abandoning its naval superiority and turning ever inwards, and into isolationist stasis, until dynastic rule finally collapsed under the weight of its own inertia.By the reign of Yingzongin 1436, the Ming Dynasty was already on the way to decline, mainly due to the monopoly of eunuchs. Corruption was rife, with officials levying heavy taxes on peasants, triggering countless uprisings. At the same time, the Ming Dynasty faced the danger of attacks from external forces. During the reign of Emperor Jiajing (circa 1521), Chancellor Zhang Juzheng was appointed to carry out a comprehensive reform in politics, the economy and military. For some time, things changed for the better but, before long, a eunuch named Wei Zhongxian seized power, accelerating the Ming's decline. Overseas, Ming China ended up caught in a series of events which it was unable to extricate itself from. The Imjin War with Japan in Korea led to a strain on budgetary resources, which were further stretched with Japan and Spain cracking down on foreign trade; one attempting to keep the Western powers out while the other strove to keep the valuable flow of American silver in. Political chaos and natural disasters wiped out what little the nation could muster in terms of resources. The end came in the 17th century during a flurry of peasant uprisings that reached Beijing, forcing the Shunzi emperor to commit suicide. Meanwhile, unable to restore order and short on manpower, a Ming official opened the gates of the Great Wall to a host of barbarians, the Manchu, to help quell revolts in the empire. By 1644, however, all was lost - the Manchus seized Beijing, and eventually began absorbing the politically disunited parts of China together under their rule. The Manchus and Foreign Rule in China Again Long before the Manchu had entered China, they however had been hard at work on their own projects. Initially disunited, the Manchu were unified under the Aisin Gioro clan, led by Nurhaci, by 1616, into a single sinicised monarchy which soon centred itself around China's Liaodong province. Now the khan of the Manchus, Nurhaci subsequently did not stop with the Manchu alone, but began to plot for conquest. Although he did not conquer China, Nurhaci successfully created an organisational system, called the "eight-banner system", which attempted to integrate the tribal warriors of Manchu society into a highly centralised and disciplined fighting force. It was this army with which Nurhaci's youngest son, Hong Taiji, marched through the Great Wall and assumed de facto control of China, stylising himself as Shunzhi of Qing. Shunzhi was infamous for introducing the "Queue Order" which forced all subjects of the empire, on pain of death, to adopt the Manchu queue in lieu of the topknots favoured by Chinese ever since time immemorial. Despite seeming inocuous enough in modern eyes, hundreds of thousands were killed in an effort to secure compliance with this order. To be fair, however, it is to be noted that the Qing did contribute something back to the people under their rule. They managed to keep the Russians and Mongols out of China well until the end of their reign, and it was also under Shunzhi's successor that the Kangxi dictionary emerged, so named after the emperor in whose reign it was first published. Equally, as with other previous dynasties, art and culture were resusticated so long as the Aisin Gioro clan could continue providing gifted and talented individuals to fill in the Emperor's shoes. Yongzheng, who succeeded Kangxi in 1722, attempted to crete a government that was financially efficient - an ideal not fully taken up by the west until almost 150 years later. China was also a favourite destination for American traders, who came to dominate the market in China, for several reasons: apart from being fairly stable, China was not fully dominated by the western powers of Europe (towards which the Americans were perpetually suspicious of), and American traders were mostly sole individuals unrepresented by any government, making the Chinese more trusting of them. The Tungning State: Birth of Modern Taiwan In the meanwhile, there rose one single man: an official's son named Zheng Chenggong. Realising that Formosa (then controlled by the Dutch) would make a suitable base to challenge Qing hegemony, Zheng mustered his forces and, after having made appeals to the Goddess of the Sea, successfully took the Dutch settlement of Fort Provintia (now present-day Anping in Tainan city) in 1662; the Dutch who surrendered were allowed to leave peacefully for Batavia and Zheng created the state of Tungning. His son, named Jing, attempted to reconcile with the Qing, but the Manchus flatly refused and attempted isolate Tungning by evacuating the Chinese coast; this backfired however and resulted in waves of migrants from mainland China to the island, a process which was further abetted by Zheng Jing. Despite the seeming benevolence of Chinese rule, the Tungning regime however was fairly harsh and oppressive - in an attempt to consolidate influence, Christian and aboriginal culture was stamped out, and many temples and Chinese schools were built while Western ones were forced to close, while the indigenous tribes of the island had to endure de facto slavery under the Chinese. The plantation of sugar - an exotic crop becoming increasingly significant in the global market - and so to this day Taiwan hosts some confectionary products of high quality. Even so, this could not prevent the downfall of Tungning - Zheng Jing's death would result in a political struggle which the Qing played to their benefit, and Taiwan was annexed after the Tungning fleet was swept aside at Penghu in 1683. Although the last bastion of Chinese independence had fallen, that did not mean that the Chinese as a race or culture were extinct, as it shall then be seen. Mandarins versus Merchants: Chinese Trade and Migration With a turbulent and checquered history as China's, which alternates between decadent opulence of staggering proportions and seemingly irrevocable ruin and misery, it is unsurprisng that the Chinese are often seen as every bit as innovative, industrious and entrepreneurial as they are jealous, scheming and insidiously amoral. One had to be tough in order to survive the lean years, whether in China or any other part of the world. As such, the Chinese had always been involved in trade since Han times almost two thousand years ago. Of all the goods that China produced, two have always fascinated the world outside of China: tea and fine ceramics. The fine porcelain sold by the Chinese to the Muslims in the Middle East and Africa also found admirers in the West - alchemists and mavericks in Europe strove for years to produce porcelain or "chinaware" as it was known. Equally of interest was Chinese-styled furniture and furnishing which found homes in upper-class families throughout Europe, and which kick-started a drive towards imitation of Chinese-styled artifacts. The Brighton pavillion in England is a faint echo of this former craze. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, another commodity was also making itself known to the world - tea. First introduced to Portuguese traders throughout Asia, tea eventually became another commodity prized all over the world. For many years, however, these resources were all strictly controlled by the Imperial government, because of two reasons - to monopolise the profits thereof, and also in some cases they were highly strategic: Imperial China often traded tea with Tibet in exchange for horses, which were of crucial importance for its armies. This knack of trading did not merely end with the selling of porcelain and tea. In fact, some adventurers did leave China to seek fortunes abroad, with the hope of returning back immensely rich and wealthy. Often, one motivation behind this was that since Chinese venerated their dead, they often felt a responsibility to live up to the family name or contribute back more than was taken, and so sought out material success and social advancement, wherever it could be found. To not do so, especially if one was poor, was seen as an unfillial act - loyalty towards family was and has always been seen as far more important than loyalty to the edicts of scholars who believed either in self-sufficency or the evil of foreign trade, or even loyalty to God or His representative the Son of Heaven, the Emperor himself! of course, the journeys over Nanyang, or the South Ocean, to the overseas colonial empires, or east towards America or "Kum San", Cantonese for "the Gold Mountains", was fraught with peril. Some perished in pogroms such as in the Philippines, or were exploited as in Cuba. But some survived, and some even prospered beyond all reckoning, especially in less-developed areas, especially in Southeast Asia. Despite the threat of capital punishment by the Qing authorities (intent on starving out any prospect of rebellion) Chinese migration to the colonial empires and the mother nations of Americans, French, Spanish, British, Dutch and Portuguese throughout Southeast Asia, the Americas and beyond reachesd its peak with the heyday of Western colonialism in the 19th century. The seeds of Chinese independence were not laid down merely in China alone, but in the streets of Hawai'i, Penang, Singapore, and California. Downfall of the Empire Once the Manchu emperors began to become lazy and dissolute, Imperial China's collapse was guaranteed. A series of political crises, local uprisings and incursions by foreign imperialist powers thrust into the modern world, battered and bruised. By the mid-19th century, China not only had corruption issues, but even a drug addiction issue too: this was due to the extensive use of opium. Prior to the opium trade, all the world's silver bullion tended to gravitate towards China (because the Chinese had no interest in European manufactured goods, but were interested in prized commodities such as rare medicines and precious metals); now China was bleeding silver and was facing a drug addiction problem that few truly knew how to manage. A most competent bureaucrat in southern China by the name of Lin tried to combat the opium trade; this resulted in the First Opium War, however, severely weakening the Manchu regime when it could not afford to be so. Neither the navy nor the army could stop the British, and so the Manchu were forced to "rent out" Hong Kong to the British until 1999. Rise of the Republic "革命尚未成功，同志仍需努力." (The revolution hasn't succeeded yet - the comrades still need to strive for the future.) '- Sun Yat-Sen' This however could not stop a Second Opium War with the European powers in which the summer palace, one of China's first Western-style buildings, was completely razed to the ground; equally damaging was that once more Britain asserted itself and annexed Kowloon in Hong Kong, and China was forced to cede Vietnam to France and part of the Amur region to Russia. As if to add more insult to injury, anti-foreigner sentiment in China reached boiling point by 1900, culminating in the Yihe uprising or the Boxer Rebellion, which resulted in mass pogroms against westerners and other foreigners in China and elicited massive retaliation by eight powers: France, Germany, Japan, Britain, Russia, Italy, Austria and the United States. Half-hearted attempts by the Manchu aristocracy to modernise China were insufficient to hold back the onslaught, and the Manchu regime, financially and morally bankrupt, collapsed in a series of revolts and battles throughout China that began on October 1911 and ended with the abdication of the last emperor - now little more than a puppet - in early 1912. After 267 years, China was finally free of foreign rule again, but now further torment in the form of foreign domination, sociopolitical upheaval and war awaited the new nation. Category:Factions